France is a country that is plagued with a narcotic drug problem and understands the difficulty to maintain the health of the country. It has been in fact an increasing problem that France has been working on for over 40 years. Drugs can ruin a nation and they will if we dont get a handle on the situation. "Drugs continue to destroy lives, sow the seeds for crime and endanger the sustainability of development." October 9 2008


Cannabis is a contraversial drug that is made of hash, hash oil and marijuana. Some countries use cannabis as medicine or just a simple everyday thing even though many people use it in heroin. 80% of the hash comes from Morocco, the rest comes from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon. Marijuana is found in Africa, the Carribean and the Netherlands. The French Drug policy, also called the Drug law of 1970 was made to prevent cannabis use and all drug use. From a report in 1992 it said that 4.7 million people from the ages 12-44 had at one time smoked Cannabis. That statistic is depressing for France. Another thing is to concider how other countries are effected. The statistics for other European countries are about the same and in countries like the US there has been wars over drugs. For a number of years there has been a discussion in France on the Cannabis policy. Started by the Minister of the Interior Charles Pasqua he didnt like cannabis use and he thought that the law wasnt strict enough. Another debate occured stating that cannabis should no longer be a criminal offence. Since the debate on the French Drug policy which started in 1994, three committees and organizations have thought the law was just fine, the government did not.In march 1994 a new law called the Penal code came into place. The Penal code makes a difference from drug possession and drug use. For drug use you can be imprisioned for two months up to one year. For drug possession you can be imprisioned up to two years. Drug users may not always be prosecuted but it doesnt mean drug use is tolerated. In other countries there is mixed opinions and maybe one day there will be no drugs. Maybe we could all come together as one and rid the world of drugs.


Opium is defined as something having a tranquilizing or stupefying effect. Opium is a drug that is made from the dried latex from the opium poppy. Afghanistan is a major producer of Opium in the world according to a study in 2008. Afghanistan government has had a hard time with drug control until Mohammed Omar came into play in 2001. He said that growing opium poppies were un-islamic which started the most successful anti-drug campaign ironically enough. This did not last long, the economy in Afghanistan was so bad that it crashed in November of 2001 and farmers had to make opium again. Afghan farmers suggested that "government officials take bribes for turning a blind eye to the drug trade while punishing poor opium growers". President Karzai is trying to get Opium rid of opium today but someone eles is fighting him called the Taliban. The Taliban is a terroristic group that bombs countries and kills people they are supported by the al-Qai'da. These people are also in charge of the selling of opium. Like Mohammed Omar, Karzai belives its against Islamic law and Karzai's saying is "jihad against poppy." There are organizations fighting this like Afghan National Drug Control Strategy and Afghan Special Narcotics Force. The Taliban have been smuggleing Opium and other drugs into major European countries like France. France is still trying to fight this and opium use falls under the Drug law of 1970.


Over all Cannabis is a drug problem that our world faces today. It ruins lives and communities. Opium is another drug problem that effects a lot of countries and their people. Getting rid of these drugs is a problem every country faces like Afghan or France and we just have to keep fighting.


http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan

http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/boekhout.france.html